chrlauncher Documentation

Welcome to the documentation for chrlauncher, a lightning-fast, fully portable launcher and background updater for Chromium-based browsers on Windows.

Overview

chrlauncher is a highly optimized, lightweight Windows utility written in C/C++ designed to manage portable installations of Chromium. It handles launching the browser with custom command-line arguments while transparently checking for, downloading, and installing browser updates in the background without user interruption.

Whether you are a developer testing multiple browser channels, a privacy advocate using customized ungoogled builds, or simply someone who wants to carry their browser on a USB drive, chrlauncher provides the exact tooling you need to maintain complete control over your browser environment.

The Problem Solved

Standard installations of Google Chrome, Chromium, and other modern browsers tie themselves heavily to the host operating system. They drop files in AppData, create dozens of Windows Registry entries, and most importantly, encrypt user profile data (like saved passwords and cookies) using machine-specific cryptographic identifiers (Windows SIDs).

This creates a major problem for portability: you cannot simply copy a standard Chrome installation to a flash drive and move it to another PC. Your passwords will fail to decrypt, and your extensions may break.

chrlauncher solves this by:

  1. Intercepting the browser execution and forcing it to use a local profile directory.
  2. Managing its own isolated update lifecycle, downloading raw binaries instead of using system-level installers.
  3. Integrating with tools like Chrome++ to bypass machine-specific encryption, achieving true 100% portability.

Key Features

  • True Portability: Keep your browser binary and user profile data completely isolated within a single directory. No registry bloat, no hidden AppData folders.
  • Silent Automatic Updates: Background update checking and downloading via native Windows APIs. When a new version is found, it safely extracts and replaces the old binary, ready for your next launch.
  • Broad Compatibility: Fully supports Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10, and 11. It natively handles 32-bit (x86), 64-bit (x64), and ARM64 architectures.
  • Highly Configurable: Control update API URLs, update frequencies, architectures, and command-line arguments through a simple, human-readable chrlauncher.ini text file.
  • Multi-Browser Support: While heavily optimized as an updater for Chromium flavors, it acts as a robust portable launcher for many browsers including Brave, Firefox, Opera, and Vivaldi.
  • Zero Dependencies: Written purely in C/C++ with embedded LZMA/Miniz unpackers. It requires no .NET framework, no Python, and no external archiving tools like 7-Zip.

When to Use chrlauncher

  • USB Portability: Carrying your personalized browser setup (bookmarks, passwords, extensions) between work and home computers.
  • Privacy Hardening: Running un-telemetried builds like ungoogled-chromium which do not have built-in auto-updaters.
  • Web Development: Maintaining side-by-side installations of stable, beta, and dev channel browsers for cross-testing without version conflicts.
  • System Administration: Deploying pre-configured, self-contained browsers to isolated corporate environments.

Next Steps

  • Learn how to get started in the Installation guide.
  • Run the browser for the first time using the Quick Start.
  • Understand the background update lifecycle in the Usage Guide.